The West Waterford man, who has made 13 of 20 cuts on the Challenge Tour this season but played just twice on the DP World Tour since taking time off at the end of last season, made four birdies in a level-par 70 to share 46th at halfway in the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre.
At two-under, he’s 12 shots behind England’s Matt Wallace, who followed an opening 64 with a blistering eight-under 62 to lead by four strokes from England’s Alex Fitzpatrick, who shot 67.
Hurley will be one of 11 Irish players in Co Down next week following confirmation that the West Waterford man and Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell were awarded Sport Ireland invitations.
They will be joined by Royal Dublin’s Max Kennedy and Roganstown’s Seán Keeling, who received the two amateur invitations to tee it up alongside Pádraig Harrington, Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy, Séamus Power, Tom McKibbin, Simon Thornton and Kilkenny’s Mark Power, who won his spot by finishing as the leading Irish player at the Irish Challenge.
Power was one of six Irishmen to miss the one-under cut in the Big Green Egg German Challenge.
Dermot McElroy bogeyed the par-five 18th to miss out on one-over after a level-par 72, while Galway’s Liam Nolan dropped four shots in his last three holes to finish three-over after a 74.
Power was five-over after a 74, with Jonny Caldwell six-over, Conor O’Rourke 10-over and John Murphy 19-over.
Meanwhile, Hurley’s former Walker Cup team-mate Cormac Sharvin shot a second successive six-under 65 at Millennium Golf in Belgium to cruise into next month’s Second Stage of the DP World Tour Q-School, finishing fifth on 20-under, four shots inside the top 15 and ties who progressed.
In the LET Access Series, Curtis Cup star Sara Byrne opened with a one-over 73 on her professional debut in the Rose Ladies Open at Brocket Hall.
The Douglas dynamo (23) was tied for 38th while Lurgan’s Annabel Wilson (23) also birdied her last two holes to card a 72 and share 26th place, six strokes behind Sweden’s Ellen Hutchinson-Kay.
On the Alps Tour, Paul McBride came home in a blistering seven-under 29 to go into the final round just a shot off the lead in the Longwy Alps Open in France.
A seven-under 65 left him third on nine-under behind Italian amateur Luca Memeo and Switzerland’s Luca Galliano.